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What’s Up
We’ve confused the term “missional” and, especially, the moniker “missional church.” Somewhere along the way, it all started sounding like community activism with a Christian accent. Let’s be clear … the realmissional church mission still matters today.
So What
The church’s mission has never been to fix society’s problems. It’s to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Changed hearts change families. Changed families change neighborhoods. That’s the sequence. When we reverse it, we burn energy solving symptoms and ignore the disease. Jesus didn’t commission the church to manage culture. He commissioned us to multiply disciples.
The Point Is
Disciple-Making Is the Assignment
The Great Commission is simple. Make disciples. Baptize them. Teach them to obey. That’s it. Every ministry, every dollar, every hour on your calendar should support that aim. If it doesn’t, it’s secondary. Helpful maybe. Good even. But secondary.
Good Works Follow Good News
Yes, we feed people. Yes, we serve the community. Yes, we care about justice. But those works flow from transformed hearts. And before anyone pushes back, let’s remember who we’re following. Jesus healed. Jesus fed crowds. Jesus showed compassion. But he didn’t organize marches or try to reform Rome’s political structure. And he did nothing to solve anyone’s poverty. Instead, he called disciples. He preached repentance. He announced the Kingdom. The early church didn’t change the Roman Empire by lobbying Caesar. They changed it by making disciples who lived differently. When the gospel takes root, culture eventually feels it.
Mission Drift Is Subtle
Churches rarely abandon the mission on purpose. It just gets crowded out. Programs multiply. Committees expand. Internal preferences get louder. Meanwhile, evangelism slides from Job 1 to Job 7. And when disciple-making isn’t central, the church slowly becomes a club with spiritual language.
And … ?
Here’s where this gets practical.
Easter is coming. It’s the one Sunday when people who don’t normally attend will actually consider walking through your doors. That’s not theory. That’s decades of data. The opportunity is real.
But Easter isn’t the mission. It’s a moment. And moments only matter if they connect to movement.
If the church’s mission is making disciples, then Easter has to be more than a well-attended service. It has to become the front door to a clear pathway. What happens the week after? And the week after that? Where do new people go? Who follows up? How do you move them from curious to committed?
A missional church thinks beyond the event. It plans for momentum. It knows that resurrection Sunday isn’t the finish line. It’s the starting gun.
You don’t change your community by hosting a great service. You change your community by making disciples who live the resurrection in everyday life.
Action!
If you want this Easter to fuel real disciple-making momentum instead of fading by April, join the Easter Momentum 3-Day Challenge and build a practical 10-week plan that turns a big Sunday into lasting mission traction: https://go.effectivechurch.com/easter-momentum-sp
